Nearly forty million American now use a cellular telephone and another seven million or so are expected to subscribe the coming year. Sales of cellular phones have risen faster than those of facsimile machines, subscriptions to cable televisions, and sales of videocassette recorders. Cellular telephones have become a feature of the mark in business and recreational landscape. Customers have come to expect, and demand, steady increases in reliability and portability of the telephones. They have also come to demand the constant reductions in cost of the telephones.
A critical aspect of the reliability of the cellular telephone is the reliability of its power source, the battery. The battery may well be the single most important feature in a cellular telephone, or for that matter, a two-way radio. Consumer surveys have shown that talk time is the feature valued by users of cellular telephones and two-way radios above all else. Therefore, there is a need for a battery for a cellular telephone or two-way radio of improved durability and reliability.